The latest ProtoCOL system at this major pharmaceutical company is being integrated into a GMP facility alongside eight other ProtoCOL systems and will be used to accelerate manufacturing of pneumococcal vaccines by automatically counting surviving S. pneumoniae colonies post OPKA assay. The ProtoCOL is well designed for this because its high resolution CCD camera can detect the tiny colonies produced more precisely than any other commercial colony counter.
The other ProtoCOL system installed at this company is being used in the research laboratories to automate measuring the size of inhibition zones on SRD plates, which determines the efficacy of novel flu vaccines. The system is suited to this application because its software analyses measurements from multiple points around the zone diameter to generate the most accurate zone sizing results.
Elke Hearn, Managing Director of Meintrup DWS Laborgerate GmbH, distributors of Synbiosis systems in Germany stated: “We installed the first ProtoCOL in this major pharma company in 2001 and since then the productivity of its vaccine testing has significantly increased and its vaccines are reaching the market more rapidly.”
Elke Hearn continued: “The recent installation of the tenth system in such a thriving vaccine manufacturing facility is a great testament to the fact the scientists there are delighted with the part ProtoCOL has to play in this success. It also shows that there still isn’t any other system on the market which can come close to ProtoCOL’s ability to rapidly and accurately generate data from OPKA assays and SRD plates in a GMP environment.”
About Synbiosis
Synbiosis is a world-leading supplier of integrated imaging solutions for automatic counting and analysis of microbial colonies and zone measurement. The ProtoCOL and åCOLyte systems from Synbiosis are installed in food, pharmaceutical, environmental and research microbiology laboratories world-wide. Synbiosis uses established distribution channels to market its products internationally.
Synbiosis, founded in 1998 is a division of the Synoptics Group based in Cambridge UK. The Group’s other divisions, Syncroscopy and Syngene, specialise in digital imaging solutions for microscopy and molecular biology applications respectively. Synoptics currently employs 40 people in its UK and US subsidiary operation.
